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Morning cup of joy! I’m really liking this stuff. I made it stronger this time by adding more leaf, and I was able to unlock a more full-bodied nutty, woodsy, slightly smokey, roast-y, totally delicious flavor profile. It re-steeped nicely too.
I actually also went onto the Catspring Tea website and ordered more of this Marfa blend, as well as some of their Lost Maples medium roast.

Did not have high hopes for this one. Another boring plain Ceylon? Thanks, Sips By…
But this is actually really nice! It’s flavorful and hearty, but doesn’t have the icky astringency that Ceylon teas usually have. And I’m getting a note of… ginger? Whatever it is, I’m liking it a lot.

Back on the mate train… we’ll see how long this lasts. Haha.
This blend’s good because the black tea takes the edge off of the smokey note in the mate and amplifies the caffeine content of the brew, which is exactly what this wretched coffee addict wants in a breakfast tea. I really appreciate the non-jittery aspect of mate— I just wish I liked the flavor more. The black tea definitely makes this one drinkable for me.

Just an OK black tea. Nothing special about the flavor. Tastes about the same as PG Tips. I made this as a builder’s tea, with 1% dairy milk. Maybe I need to experiment more with trying it plain and perhaps decreasing steep time and water temp a little. The packaging recommends 4 minutes at 208 degrees Fahrenheit.

The ingredients list on this one is so smart! Oat flower, licorice root, chamomile, lavender, lime (linden) flower, Valerian root, green Rama tulsi. One of the nicest-tasting and most effective bedtime blends I’ve ever tried (and I have tried many!). It’s slightly sweet without being cloying and has a nice, bready mouthfeel. Doesn’t taste like candied soggy hay, which many chamomile- and- licorice- based herbal blends run the risk of, IMHO. I didn’t get much of the lavender or Valerian, which is OK with me, as those can be overpowering too if not balanced correctly.
I was already pretty tired when I drank this, but I was out like a light within 15 minutes of finishing this cup. Pretty good for a bagged grocery store tea!

Notes of amaretto, vanilla, cherry. Coconut leaves a slight oil film on the top of the liquor.
Base is likely a ceylon— a good quality one.
Very smooth and well-balanced. Nice dessert tea, good with a splash of milk and a little white cane sugar.

Another item in my Sips By box for this month. I really like this one. It’s similar to yerba maté, but less smokey. This blend has a bread-y mouthfeel and notes of toast, raisins, and wood. Really nice as a breakfast tea. I also appreciate that it’s grown, processed, and packaged in the U.S.
I followed the instructions on the bag and only used 1 tsp of leaf, but I think next time I will make it a little stronger.

Got this in this month’s Sips By box. I’ve never tried a pure cacao tea before. The dry mix smells heavenly, like fresh baked brownies. Steeps up an orangey-brown color. The longer you let this steep, the better for the flavor— you can’t really oversteep it. You also have to let the water cool down quite a bit to get the full flavor. Tastes very earthy and chocolatey, just like you’d expect. Manages to taste just like chocolate without being sweet, which I appreciate, as I don’t like sweet teas. It’s pretty good!

Didn’t care for this one at all. It tasted like hot sweet spice water. I barely tasted the base.
This one and the Red Chai blend were my least favorites in the whole sampler pack.

In this sampler pack, this one was fair-to-middling. It’s good if you like coconut, and the coconut flavor works well with the roasted dandelion and chicory base, because toasted coconut is a thing. Not as good as the Caramel Nut and Dark Roast blends, and not something I’d be in the mood for every day… but again, as with the Mocha Mint blend, I’m not unhappy that I got to try it.